368 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 10. 1855. 



Frcmi a note in tlie handwriting of Meerman, 

 the MS., it appears, was procured from the library 

 of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and its history 

 is given in the following passage : 



"Hffic est Copia Manuscripta Libri longe rarissimi, 

 cujus Auctor famosus ille Michael Seevetus, quique 

 impressus fuit Viennas Allobrogum, 1553, in 8vo., et 

 femori Auctoris alligatus cum ipso combustus est. Ejus 

 autem tanta est raritas, ut qui gloriari possit, se ilium 

 typis excusum vidisse, nemo reperiatur. Nam quod 

 Cassellis in Bibliotheca Frincipis Hessiaj dim exstitit ex- 

 emplar (ex quo pauea nianu descripta promanarunt) 

 deperditum est. Vid. Jo. Vogt in Catal. Libr. Rarior., 

 p. 624. (edit. 1747). Hoece vero Exemplar perquam dili- 

 genter et accurate ex impresso transcriptum est, et quidem 

 ita, ut singula; paginae hie responderaut paginis Voluminis 

 impressi." 



The copy of the work stated upon the authority 

 of M. Flourens in the Quarterly Bevieio for June 

 last, p. 31., now in the Royal Library of Paris, 

 appears to be that which had passed from the 

 Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel to Dr. Mead, thence 

 to the Due de la Valliere, from whose collection 

 it was bought for the royal library at the price 

 of 3810 livres, it having cost the Duke nearly 

 400 guineas. Flourens states it to have been 

 obtained of M. de Boze at a very high price. 

 My friend Dr. Sigmond, now a resident at Paris, 

 examined the copy in the Royal Library, and 

 wrote to me as follows : 



"There, indeed, I saw the celebrated copy of the 

 Christianismi Restitutio : it carries internal evidence and 

 proof that it is so in the handwriting of Dr. Mead. It 

 corresponds word for word, page for page, even to the 

 erratum, with my more modern edition ; it is, however, 

 somewhat larger. Its condition is by no means good, for 

 the worm has prej-ed not only upon the margin, but 

 upon the text, even so as to have destroyed some of the 

 Vfovda." 



Dr* Mead endeavoured to give a quarto edition 

 of this work, but before it was completed it was 

 seized by John Kent, messenger of the press, and 

 Mr. Squire, messenger in ordinary, on May 27, 

 1723, at the instance of Dr. Gibson, Bishop of 

 London, and burnt, a very few copies excepted. 

 I have seen and examined one of these copies ; it 

 possesses neither title-page nor table of contents, 

 and three books only are printed, occupying 252 

 pages. The copy I allude to is in the valuable 

 library of the Medical Society of London, to 

 which it passed from Dr. James Sims, and con- 

 tains the whole of the matter concerning the cir- 

 culation of the blood. A perfect reprint, how- 

 ever, was effected in 1790, by whose agency I 

 know not. Four copies are all that are known of 

 this edition. My friend Dr. Sigmond has one, 

 which was bequeathed to him by Dr. Sims, and 

 my friend Mr. J. B. Inglis had in his very curious 

 collection another. These I have examined, and 

 they correspond with the MS. that was in the 

 library at Kensington Palace (see my Bibliotheca 

 Sussexiana, vol. i. part i. pp. clix. ccxcL — xeiii. ; 



No. 315.] 



also part n., Division Printed Books, p. 408., and 

 for the passages from Servetus (with a transla- 

 tion) relating to the circulation of the blood, in 

 ray " Biographical Memoir of Dr. Harvey " in the 

 Medical Portrait Gallery, vol. iv., where the 

 entire subject is considered). T. J. Pkttigrew. 

 Onslow Crescent, Brompton. 



ahbuthnot's works. 

 (Vol.xii., p. 166.) 

 On looking into the Retrospective Review, 

 vol. viii. p. 285., 1 find that besides the Glasgow 

 edition of Dr. Arbuthnot's Miscellaneous Works, 

 two vols. 12mo., 1751, there was another edition, 

 that reviewed in the Ret?'ospective, entitled 3Iis- 

 cellaneom Works of the late Dr. Arbuthiwt, with an 

 Account of the Authors Life, two vols. 12mo., 

 London, 1770. On the publication of the Glasgow 

 edition, the date of which would appear to be 

 1750, his son, Mr. George Arbuthnot, advertised 

 in the newspapers on Sept. 25, 1750, that the 

 published works were not the works of his late 

 father Dr. Arbuthnot, but an imposition on the 

 public; a declaration which may be properly 

 taken as a disclamation by Dr. Arbuthnot's re- 

 presentatives of any connexion with the publica- 

 tion. Dr. Arbuthnot, as is well known, along 

 with Swift; and Pope, wrote the celebrated Me- 

 moirs of Martinus Scrillerus, and the parts attri- 

 buted to him are allowed to be equal to any in 

 that extraordinary work. The dissertation on 

 ancient music, followed by the illustration of its 

 power, in the union of learning, and of exquisite 

 ridicule heightened by gravity of narration, is not 

 exceeded by any piece of humour in the English 

 language. The portion of Bishop Burnet's mock 

 journal" in which he is represented preaching an 

 extempore sermon to his household, is as excellent 

 in its way, and perhaps still more ludicrous. Let 

 me quote this last as a rare specimen of comic 

 power. The Tom mentioned in it is^ his sou 

 Thomas Burnet, then I suppose a young Templar, 

 afterwards Mr. Justice Burnet : 



« Order the family to come up stairs at seven. Re- 

 solved to preach before them extempore. Not much 

 matter what the text is ; easy to run oft" from the subject 

 and talk of the times. . . . Bid my man get the 

 great chair ready. Family comes up. Survey them with 

 delight. The damsel Jane has a wicked eye. Robm 

 seems to meet her glances. Unsanctified vessels ! chil- 

 dren of wrath ! . . . Look again at Jane. A tear of 

 penitence in her ej'e. Sweet drops! Grace triumphs! 

 Sin lies dead 1 Wish Tom were present. He might be 

 reformed. Consider how many sermons it is probable 

 Tom hears in one year. Afraid not one. Alas the 

 Temple ! Alas the Temple ! The law eats up divmity ; 

 it corrupts manners, raises contentions amongst the 

 faithful ; feeds upon poor vicarages, and devours widows 

 houses without making long prayers. Alas the Temple ! 

 Never liked that place since it harboured bacheverell. 



